The AI writes the message. Your rules decide the price.
Guard is the rules engine at the center of PerkQi. It pre-checks each offer before Engage shows it, then runs a full check on the final cart just before checkout. If an offer breaks a rule, it isn’t applied.
Two checks: before the offer is shown, and before checkout
The cart can change after an offer is shown, so Guard checks twice. Both checks are rule-based and give the same answer every time. The AI has no way to approve a discount you didn’t allow.
Pre-check
When a shopper qualifies for an offer, Guard pre-checks it before Engage shows it.
Full check before checkout
- Margin floor
- Maximum discount
- Stacking rules
- Promotion budget and spend caps
- Daily, weekly and per-customer limits
Applied or stopped
Discounts that pass the full check on the final cart are applied. Others are stopped. Every decision is logged.
What Guard looks at for one cart
A shopper has a coat and a scarf in her cart, and qualifies for the coat offer. Before the reward is applied, Guard checks the cart against your rules.
What does an unnecessary discount really cost?
Research by BCG found that 20–50% of retail promotions generate no noticeable lift in sales, and another 20–30% dilute margins because the extra sales don’t cover their cost.1 One reason: some discounts go to shoppers who would have bought at full price anyway.
Use your own numbers to see what that could cost each month.
Studio lets you aim offers at the shoppers you mean, and Guard keeps every discount within your budgets and margin floor, so you decide where your discount money goes.
This is a scenario calculation, not an industry benchmark or a PerkQi savings claim. It assumes the share you set would have been bought at full price, with no other change in demand.
1. BCG, “How Retailers Can Improve Promotion Effectiveness,” 2015.
A flat discount cap is not enough
Here is the same 30% off on three products, as a receipt for one sale. Coffee still makes good money. The coat makes a little, but less than you allow. The sneakers lose money. Guard reads every receipt before the discount is applied.
Your rule in Guard: keep at least 20% margin on every sale.
- 1 × Coffee
- 4.50
- Promo 30% off
- −1.35
Merchant copy
- Customer pays
- 3.15
- Cost of goods
- −0.59
Margin 81% · floor 20%
- 1 × Winter coat
- 120.00
- Promo 30% off
- −36.00
Merchant copy
- Customer pays
- 84.00
- Cost of goods
- −78.00
Margin 7% · floor 20%
- 1 × Branded sneakers
- 120.00
- Promo 30% off
- −36.00
Merchant copy
- Customer pays
- 84.00
- Cost of goods
- −98.40
Costs more than it sells for
Example figures for illustration, not customer data.
Accurate rules in, safe discounts out
Guard can only protect what it knows. To check margin, it needs your product costs and the rules you want to enforce.
- Product costs for the items you promote
- A margin floor: the lowest margin you accept
- Stacking rules and budgets for each promotion
Margin checks are only as accurate as the costs you provide, so keep them up to date.
| Time | Order | Offer | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:02 | #4821 | Coat −10% | AppliedMargin 27% ≥ 20% |
| 10:05 | #4822 | Coat −10% + Gold | AppliedStack allowed |
| 10:09 | #4823 | Clearance −25% | StoppedExclusive offer |
| 10:14 | #4824 | Laptop −35% | StoppedBelow margin floor |
Decision log · example figures for illustration.
You set the rules. Guard enforces them.
Margin floor
Set the lowest margin you will accept. Guard checks each cart against it, using your product costs.
Stacking rules
Decide which offers can be combined and which cannot. Guard applies them on every order.
Budgets and caps
Set a spend cap and maximum discount for each promotion. When the budget is used, the offer stops.
Real-time limits
Limit use per day or per week, for the whole promotion and for each customer. Checked as each order happens, not at the end of the day.
Full decision log
Every approved and stopped discount is recorded, with the rule that decided it.
Your approval first
No promotion goes live until you approve it in Studio.